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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23523520">10 Things I Love About You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agentzorel/pseuds/Agentzorel'>Agentzorel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supergirl (TV 2015)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - No Powers sort of, Bets, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff, Happy Ending, Jealousy, Lames and Karamel are mentioned but only in passing, Love Confessions, minor angst (but not really), more like they're dumbies who don't realize the other one is in love with them</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 14:35:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,542</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23523520</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agentzorel/pseuds/Agentzorel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lena's journey of realizing she is capable of love is a long one. Spanning three years and countless game nights, this is the story of Lena realizing that she is in love with Kara Danvers...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I promise it's better than the summary makes it sound... I just suck at summaries :)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>80</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>10 Things I Love About You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Okay this all started with me, trying to decide who said I love you first. I was convinced Lena would say it first but all of my friends said that Kara would be the one to say it first. I even put a poll on my instagram story and the response was overwhelmingly in Kara's favor. But I refused to take that as the final answer so I began to think about when, where, why, and who would say I love you first and thus this fic was created. I hope y'all enjoy it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“they slipped</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>briskly</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>into an intimacy</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>from which they</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>never recovered”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>F. Scott Fitzgerald</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Lena never really knew much about romantic love. It wasn’t really the Luthor way. Her parents got together more out of convenience than actual love. Lena was sure they eventually grew into some sort of comradery, but knew for certain they never loved each other the way two married people should. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Lena never heard someone say ‘I love you’ to another person until she was well into her 20’s. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She had been in other relationships, but those always ended before they became anything too serious. Her longest relationship to date was Jack Spheer and Lena was more attracted to his brain than anything else. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A year and a half into that relationship, Lena had yet to say ‘I love you.’ Jack made the declaration three months after they got together and everytime he said it, Lena had a clever way to avoid saying it back. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn’t that she didn’t feel anything for Jack, the problem was she felt like she should be feeling more than she was. She never understood the stereotypical feelings that were supposed to come with love. The butterflies, the euphoria, the need to always be around your significant other. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After years Lena had basically given up on the feeling. Chalking up her incapacity to love to her Luthor genes. Resigning herself to a life of loneliness.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>At the ripe age of 23 Lena Luthor makes the move to National City. She had left Jack after the realization that she could not give him what he wanted, love. She wanted the fresh start a new city could give her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And what a fresh start National City afforded her, in the form of a tall, blonde, reporter with dazzling blue eyes and an energy unlike anything she had ever seen.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Lena automatically felt an attraction to her. Unlike love, attraction was something she was familiar with. Attraction came easy to her; Andrea, Sam, Veronica, Mercy: all people she had felt immense attraction to in the past. The love part just always seemed to escape her.  </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The reporter seemed to be equally as attracted to Lena. Whether the attraction stemmed from a want to get to know Lena or if she just saw her as a potential story was still up in the air.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Lena decided she didn’t care what the reporter’s -- Kara’s, motives were. Lena wanted to know everything she could about the blonde. Something in Lena was drawn to something in Kara. She couldn’t explain why.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As time went on, Lena found more and more creative excuses to see Kara. Inviting her to galas, lunch dates, and wine tasting became Lena’s favorite way to pass the time. With the passing of each event, the two became closer and closer.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kara started to include Lena in her little family, game nights became a staple of Lena’s week. After weeks of this same routine, Lena realized she now had a family. A ragtag one, but it was still a family. And this group of people brought something Lena hadn’t experienced since her birth mother died -- familial love. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It still wasn’t what Jack had tried and tried to get her to feel; familial love was nowhere near romantic love, but it was something. Something that Lena held onto tightly. This ragtag group -- Kara, Alex, J’onn, Winn, James and eventually Kelly, Nia, and Barney became her support system. Lena soon discovered she would lay down her life for every single person in her family. But one person in particular meant the world to her; Kara.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kara never lost that energy that initially drew Lena to her and over time Lena discovered more of Kara’s qualities that made her even more endearing. Her intelligence was astounding to Lena. Kara could and would debate almost anything that Lena wanted to. Kara’s knowledge was vast and impressive. Her love for astronomy was particularly endearing. She was also bubbly and so very kind. Lena could not say enough about her good qualities, but Kara also had a depth to her that Lena did not initially expect. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As the two had gotten closer, Kara opened up about how traumatic her childhood had been. Both of her parents had died when she was very young in a fire that had destroyed her entire home. Kara had barely been able to escape before everything went up in flames. Kara bounced around foster homes before she was placed with the Danvers who ended up adopting her. This was something the two bonded over considering Lena had a slightly similar situation. Her mother also died when she was younger, but instead of foster homes, Lena had the Luthors. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Every time Lena would talk about her childhood and the trauma the Luthors caused her, Kara was always there with a sympathetic ear -- something Lena had never really had before. I mean, she hadn’t really had friends before her move to National City. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Every time they were together Lena felt absolute euphoria. Could this be… no. It couldn’t. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Flip the lights Lee. It’s almost time for the show!” Kara smiled and Lena could see her eyes crinkling as a result from where she was standing in front of the fridge.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kara had snuggled up on the couch under her blanket with a freshly popped bowl of popcorn in her lap. Lena was getting the two of them drinks. Beer for Kara, whiskey for Lena. Tonight was supposed to be game night but everyone else had to cancel for one reason or another until only Kara and Lena were left. The two of them had decided to just do a movie night instead.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You do know, there are other movies besides </span>
  <em>
    <span>10 Things I Hate About You, </span>
  </em>
  <span>right?” Lena teased.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It has been three years since Lena moved to National City and since then Kara and Lena have only become closer. Lena has never once stopped being attracted to Kara, not even when Kara briefly dated Mon-el or when Lena dated James for a hot second. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>James had just been another attempt at love that hadn’t panned out. If anything that relationship had only proved that she felt something strong for Kara. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When Kara first told Lena that she was now dating Mon-El, she was heartbroken and didn’t really know why. The longer that their relationship lasted the more jealous Lena got. Around the three month mark Lena finally realized why she was so jealous. She didn’t want Kara to date Mon-El, she wanted Kara to date her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A year into the relationship, Kara found out that Mon-El had been cheating on her with some girl named Imra and broke up with him. Even though she was the one who broke up with him, that didn’t make it any easier for Kara. And Lena was there for her through it all.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The angry, drunken rants and the heartbreaking, crying sessions, Lena was there for it all with a shoulder for Kara to cry on. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Three months after their breakup Alex hosted a girls night in hopes of getting Kara out of her funk. All the girls were there, all were hoping to cheer Kara up. There was booze, food, and all of Kara’s favorite musicals. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Halfway through the pity party, Alex made it a rule that every time someone mentioned the breakup, boys, or Mon-El in particular, everyone had to drink a shot. This went about as well as you would expect. By the end of the night everyone was completely wasted. Turns out the drunker that Kara got, the more she talked about how sad she was about all of her failed relationships, which egged on more talk of boys, which meant more drinking.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually a taxi was called to take everyone home from Kara’s loft. All the other girls had gone ahead so it was just Kara and Lena left.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Kara, don’t be sad. You’re a catch. You’ll find someone eventually.” Lena was staggering in her heels.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“But what if I don’t Lee? I’m already 27 and I wasted a year of my life on a boy who ended up cheating on me.” Kara was looking at the floor and Lena stared at the crinkle on her forehead that showed whenever she was concerned.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Kara, trust me when I tell you that anyone would be lucky to have the chance to love you. I happen to know some people who are absolutely smitten with you.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Really?” Kara looked up from the floor, crinkle intensifying, “Who?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Me.” Lena leaned forward and kissed her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kara seemed to be caught off guard at first, but soon melted into the kiss matching Lena’s vigor. Kara’s hand went to either side of Lena’s face and held her in place while Lena’s hands encircled Kara’s waist. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As soon as their lips met, Lena knew this was different. She felt a surge of fire, something so intense in their kiss, like she had never felt before. Lena never wanted this to stop and it seems as though Kara didn’t either. But consciously Lena knew it had to. At least for the moment. So Lena pulled back. Kara attempted to chase Lena’s lips, but they were just out of her reach.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Kara, Kara, honey. We need to stop.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kara’s eyes were half-lidded. “But what if I don’t want to stop?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Believe me, I wanted to stop even less than you did,” Lena looked Kara up and down. “But we are both incredibly drunk and we shouldn’t be doing this right now. If it really is something you want to do, we’ll do it while sober. But until then, I have got to go.” Lena knew it was the right thing to do, but it didn’t stop the disappointment from showing on her face.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Lena decided on one last peck before leaving Kara standing in the middle of her loft in order to chase down a cab. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That night was two months ago and there has not been another kiss since then. Some obvious flirting, but nothing more than that. So here the two of them are, alone, sitting on Kara’s couch about to watch </span>
  <em>
    <span>10 Things I Hate About You</span>
  </em>
  <span> for the 15th time.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kara cracked open her beer as the opening sequence started to play.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Kara what is it about this movie that you love so much? I mean I’m not one to complain about getting to stare at Julia Stiles beautiful face, but 15 times? Don’t you think that’s a little much?” Lena took a sip of her whiskey.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well it’s probably no shock to you that love comes easy for me. I grew up surrounded by so much love, my parents openly said ‘I love you’ so I never had any qualms when it came to that sort of stuff. Eliza likes to tease me about the time I said I love you to the mailman right after I moved in with them. The way my parents raised me, you said ‘I love you’ any chance you got because you never knew when you wouldn’t be able to say it again and you wanted to make sure that people knew you loved them. I can’t say it to my parents anymore and you have no idea how sad that makes me. I just have so much love that I want to give.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You have the biggest heart of anyone that I know that’s for sure.” Lena smiled. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well the first time I saw this movie, I found it so strange that Kat had so many reservations when it came to love and relationships. I just didn’t get it. Why would anyone not want to feel love?” Kara looked at Lena. “But after we met, I kind of got it. She refused to feel the wonders of love because she didn’t want to get hurt, just like you. You don’t allow yourself to love. I saw it when you were with James, you didn’t let yourself fully commit to the relationship because you didn’t want to add to your own hurt.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s not necessarily true, Kara.” Lena was a little peeved that Kara thought it was as simple as just not letting herself love someone else. “The Luthors made it so that I legitimately don’t know what love feels like… at least I thought I didn’t.” Lena stared into her whiskey glass.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kara scrunched her face up like she does when she’s thinking. “What do you mean?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Lena stared straight into Kara’s icy blue eyes, they were like comets. “I think… I think I love you Kara.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kara smiled. “Why just think?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Because I’ve never felt love so I don’t know if that’s what I’m feeling.” Lena downed the rest of her whiskey.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well what do you feel like?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Like my insides are going to explode anytime I’m near you. My heart starts racing anytime someone so much as just says your name. Pure euphoria and exhilaration basically.” Lena set her glass down on the coffee table.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Lena, honey, I’m willing to bet what you feel </span>
  <em>
    <span>is</span>
  </em>
  <span> love.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How do you know?” The butterflies in Lena’s stomach felt like they were attempting an escape.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kara smirked. “Because that’s exactly how I feel about you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Lena would have dropped her glass on the ground if she hadn’t already set it down. Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. How could someone like Kara possibly love her, feel the same way that she does about her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How… how long have you known.” Lena was stammering, she couldn’t get over the fact that Kara Danvers was in love with her. Or that she had admitted that she was in love with Kara.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Since our first game night, but I imagine you have known longer. I saw how you felt I was just too much of a coward to act on anything and then you kissed me at girl’s night and I decided I had to say something. That’s why I made everyone cancel tonight, I told myself that I was going to tell you tonight. I wasn’t expecting you to admit to it first though. You kind of beat me to the punch. Alex isn’t going to believe it.” Kara was talking animatedly while Lena attempted to wrap her head around the situation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara had been in love with her for almost as long as Lena had been in love with her, but both of them had been too chicken to admit anything to each other. Kara had made everyone cancel so she could tell Lena she loved her… and Alex… </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait, why won’t Alex believe it?” That shut Kara up almost immediately.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Shoot I wasn’t supposed to tell you.” Kara grinned sheepishly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Tell me what” Lena asked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, the others sort of had a bet going of how long it would take for you to say ‘I love you’.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait, so everyone knew I was in love with you even before I was ready to admit it to myself?” Lena couldn’t believe this.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Pretty much yeah. I think Kelly ended up winning the pool. I’ll have to text everyone and le--”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Before Kara could finish her sentence Lena had lunged across the couch, knocking the popcorn off of Kara lap, and smashed their lips together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Leave a comment and tell me what you think. I haven't posted a fic in two years so it was weird writing again, hopefully it wasn't too bad. If y'all wanna talk anymore about how Lena was definately the one who said I love you first, come follow me on instagram -@agentzorel :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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